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I'm on a 2500K system, and for a while now have been planning an upgrade around Skylake-E (Kaby Lake) or Zen (depending on price/performance, and how much patience I can maintain)...

I require Windows 8.1 (or 7), for a few software reasons - not the least of which is my whole house WMC/CableCard setup which I plan to use for at least a few more years - or until something comes along to make it obsolete. So even if I liked 10, it's not really an option due to lack of WMC.

So I'm trying to wrap my relative layman's head around this announcement. I understand MS won't be updating 7 or 8.1 to "support" these newer CPU's. I assume that means newer instruction sets such as updates to SSE, AVX, etc won't be supported. So is MS going to implement this strategy by strong arming (or maybe collaborating with) manufacturers (Intel/AMD/ASUS/etc) so that they simply don't produce any compatible chipset drivers? Or do we expect that a next gen CPU will still boot up 7/8.1, but won't support newer features of the CPU? Or will MS write something into updates that simply makes new CPUs on a 7/8.1 system BSOD or say CPU not supported?

I guess what I'm asking, is (and I know it's all conjecture), but will it be feasible to run a next gen CPU on an 8.1 system (likely by giving up some of the functionality of the newer CPU features)? Or will MS be blacklisting all new CPU's either in their own code, or by extension by restricting hardware manufacturers' ability to support new hardware on the older OSes?

I know it will be impossible to buy an OEM machine with 7/8.1 - but I'm just wondering if they are also going to entirely shut out the small number of enthusiasts from building their own new systems on "unsupported" software too...

Curious to hear some knowledgeable folk's input

I would assume the only real problem is going to be finding drivers for future integrated video, new instruction sets, etc. Motherboard chipsets generally don't change enough for them to break entirely and I wouldn't put it past Intel to continue to release drivers for 7/8.1 even though they aren't required to by Microsoft.

I mean, it's x86. There would be a huge lawsuit if all of the sudden MS blocked people from running an older OS when there's no technical reason to block it.

Am I missing something with the above assumptions?

If there is high enough demand for it I would imagine that manufactures will still provide drivers for Windows 7/8.1 as long as practicable.

HorseIicious wrote:

I require Windows 8.1 (or 7), for a few software reasons - not the least of which is my whole house WMC/CableCard setup which I plan to use for at least a few more years - or until something comes along to make it obsolete. So even if I liked 10, it's not really an option due to lack of WMC.

We might be on the cusp of some new innovation or in the very least the death of CableCard.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/01 ... ntal-fees/

whm1974 wrote:

If there is high enough demand for it I would imagine that manufactures will still provide drivers for Windows 7/8.1 as long as practicable.

This.

There is plenty of evidence around the internet of people running Windows XP on Skylake CPUs without much hassle. Since 10 is much closer to 7 and 8 than XP is to anything else, I'd assume that compatibility will remain for quite some time.

Didn't even know you could run WinXP on Skylake...

So I'm trying to wrap my relative layman's head around this announcement. I understand MS won't be updating 7 or 8.1 to "support" these newer CPU's. I assume that means newer instruction sets such as updates to SSE, AVX, etc won't be supported. So is MS going to implement this strategy by strong arming (or maybe collaborating with) manufacturers (Intel/AMD/ASUS/etc) so that they simply don't produce any compatible chipset drivers?

MS will implement this strategy by standing up on its best soapbox and flapping its arms vigorously. Intel and AMD will point and giggle at the spectacle, then go back to doing whatever it is they were doing before.

Or do we expect that a next gen CPU will still boot up 7/8.1, but won't support newer features of the CPU?

This, but realistically the CPU makers will do everything they can to maintain compatibility until at least 2020. This tracks what happened with XP (can't you still use it with most desktop mobos?) and Intel isn't stupid enough to piss off big customers that'll be using W7 Pro/Enterprise for years to come.

The whole thing is a tempest in a teapot.

whm1974 wrote:

Didn't even know you could run WinXP on Skylake...

The last XP drivers I saw were for Ivy Bridge machines (business systems mainly). And hardly anyone actually bothered with that, save for a few businesses that hadn't quite finished their migrations to 7.

Somehow I think the problem will be worse this time around though, seeing as brand new Skylake business machines are still shipping with 7 by default in most cases. And yeah, NovusBogus, that sounds about right.